Kenya edges rank higher in WB doing business report

October 29, 2014

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By KENNEDY KANGETHE, Cabinet Secretary for Industrialisation and Enterprise Development, Adan Mohamed appreciated the ongoing reforms across many agencies in government and expressed confidence that the country was on the right path/FILENAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 29 – Kenya has improved by one position in the World Bank Doing Business Report 2015, where it ranks at position 136 out of 189 nations globally compared to the 2014 report where it ranked 137 in the ease of doing business.

According to the report, Kenya has however dropped 60 places in dealing with construction permits to position 95 from position 35 in the 2014 report owing to increase in building permit fees.

The country also dropped nine places in starting a business factor from position 134 in the World Bank Doing Business 2014 report to position 143 but improved 44 places in the paying taxes category from position 146 in the previous report to position 102 in the Doing Business Report 2015 Rankings.

“Kenya made paying taxes more costly for companies by increasing employers’ social security contribution rate. Kenya improved its credit information system by passing legislation that allows the sharing of both positive and negative credit information and establishes guidelines for the treatment of historical data,” the report states.

The country jumped six positions in the getting credit factor to position four from position 10 in the previous report while getting electricity improved by 17 positions to position 62 from position 79.

In the East African region, Kenya is third behind Rwanda and Tanzania which ranked 46 and 131 respectively out of 189 countries. Uganda came in fourth in the region at 150 while Burundi lagged behind at position 152.

Rwanda has improved two places from position 48 in the previous report to position 46 owing to an improvement in dealing with construction permits where it jumped 59 places up to position 34 from position 93.

Rwanda however dropped 40 positions in starting a business factor to position 112 from position 70 in the 2014 report.

Tanzania dropped by one position owing to a drop in protecting minority investors sliding by 11 places to 141 from position 130.

Speaking after receiving the 2015 Ease of Doing Business Results released by the World Bank, the Cabinet Secretary for Industrialisation and Enterprise Development, Adan Mohamed appreciated the ongoing reforms across many agencies in government and expressed confidence that the country was on the right path.

“These latest results do not capture the reforms undertaken by the government in the last 12 months. For example, registering a company now takes one day up from 32 days a year ago. We see an improving business climate as a result of the reforms that various government agencies have undertaken over the last 12 months but more needs to be done and more continues to be done. We are optimistic that going forward, and, given the Business Environment Delivery Unit launched recently, we will see our country ranked even higher in coming years,” said Mohamed.

On her Part, Kenya Private Sector Alliance Chief Executive Officer Carole Kariuki said the report sends a clear signal of the government’s commitment to improving the business environment.

“This is a critical necessity if we are to attract investments and grow our economy. Kenya has recently become the leading destination for global scale investments with major global companies choosing to locate their African Operations through locating their headquarters in the country, an achievement we are proud of,” she said.

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KENNEDY KANGETHE Kennedy is a Bachelor of Arts in Communication graduate from St. Paul's University and has been writing for the Capital FM Business Desk since 2013, Besides business news, he enjoys traveling, public